1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for fabricating an enclosure. The enclosure may have information printed on surfaces of the enclosure and further may be used to enclose additional content material. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for fabricating an enclosure from a single sheet of material. The sheet of material may be rotated and folded in a particular fashion to form the enclosure, which may be sealed. Also, the sheet of material may be rotated and folded to enclose the additional content material and then sealed at selected areas to maintain the integrity of the enclosure.
2. Background Art
Conventional envelopes contain mail content material and typically require specialized mailing products, such as a number 3 envelope, number 10 envelope, a business reply envelope (BRE) and similar especially—manufactured materials. These materials are adapted to receive content material, such as letters, bills, and other information to be sent to a recipient. When using conventional envelopes, it is necessary to insert the content material into the envelope prior to sealing the envelope.
For high volumes of mail pieces for which it is undesirable to assemble the mail pieces manually, conventional insertion processes may be difficult to perform without sophisticated equipment, since the desired content material must be associated with a corresponding envelope. In the event content material becomes disassociated from a corresponding envelope, corrective action must be taken to mitigate delivery of incorrect material to a recipient.
Conventional “self-mailers” typically require especially manufactured paper or other material. One example of a self-mailer is the One Step Mailer from GBR Systems Corporation, Chester Research Park, Chester, Conn. The GBR mailers have glue beads dispensed on two sides of the self-mailer and glue dots are applied across the top portion. One disadvantage to this self-mailer is that it requires specific and expensive material that must be fed into a printer device and mail assembly equipment.
Another conventional mail envelope is available from Nexti AB, which utilizes different sized sheets of paper material as front and back covers, respectively, to form an envelope. One disadvantage to the Nexti envelope is that it requires over-sized sheets to be used to form the envelopes. Such oversized sheets are not commonly available, and must be specially ordered. Thus, the over-sized sheet must be inserted in a desired location so that it will be in the correct sequence to form the enclosure.
Other examples of conventional mailing envelopes and methods therefor include U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,392, entitled, “Folded Single Sheet Mailer”, which relates to a folded single sheet mailer that comprises a rectangular sheet provided with transverse and longitudinal lines of perforation and transverse and longitudinal glue lines. The sheet is folded onto itself along a transverse fold line, which is offset with respect to the center of the sheet. The sheet is then folded along a plurality of secondary fold lines and sealed to produce an outgoing envelope that can be mailed. The mailer includes a return envelope for use when placing an order. One drawback to this mailer is that it requires specifically manufactured paper to produce the mailer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,666, entitled, “Desk-Top Envelope Maker” relates to an apparatus and method for making an envelope from ordinary size, readily available, writing paper. The apparatus is a desk-top size machine that can be combined with an office printer, such as a laser printer, or incorporated therein to form a single machine. The apparatus enables integration of office computerized printing of letters and addressing of envelopes, by using a single paper tray. Following the printing of a letter, the subsequently fed final sheet of paper from the paper tray is routed to the envelope making apparatus, perhaps after the printing of an address on the final sheet, whereby an envelope is created. Ordinary size paper is fed into the apparatus from a tray. When the paper enters the machine, two impression lines or creases are made along the length of paper, which will subsequently serve as fold lines. These impressions are made by sharp rollers preferably mounted at the infeed to the machine so that the rollers press against the paper while the paper is fed into the apparatus. This apparatus and method has the drawback that it requires cutting and gluing to form an envelope. Secondly, it results in scrap being produced, which must be disposed of.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,280, entitled, “C-Fold Return Postcard Mailer” relates to a mailer type business form intermediate, and business form produced from the intermediate, that have an included postcard which is used as a reply piece. The mailer may be a C-fold mailer, with a window (e.g. die cut-out) formed in one of the panels, which overlies the outgoing address indicia formed on a face at the postcard. Check-off indicia is provided on the postcard to optimize response, and tear-off strips along the side edges of the mailer are held together with pressure sensitive cohesive. Tacking pressure sensitive adhesive may also be provided along edges of the die cut-out panel and the postcard-securing panel, exterior of the postcard.
Therefore, what is needed to overcome the present disadvantages and drawbacks of the current state of the art is a mailer that can be fabricated from a standard size sheet material and does not require special materials.